The worst United Airlines club lounge is in Austin. It is small, and it is overcrowded. There is just a single window. A legacy Continental Airlines Presidents Club, for a long time it just hasn’t been a priority. United is the number four airline in the city. But finally they have a plan to make things better, and it has to do with the game of musical lounge chairs that will go on at the airport starting next year.

• Austin’s airport is full. For several years it was the fastest or second-fastest growing airport in the country.
  
• Come the 2030s there will finally be more gates. To get there, there are a number of construction projects underway. For instance, they’re adding 3 gates at the west end of the airport. But that just allows them to remove 3 gates in the terminal as they build a connecting tunnel to the new midfield concourse that they’re building.
  
• American Airlines will take a lounge that’s part of this West Gate Expansion. That frees us the current American Admirals Club space – which is right next to the United Club.

United intends to expand into American’s vacated club shell once they move west. Discussions about takeover timing began in May 2024. They are also planning a new United Club in the future Concourse B.

The airport sent United a formal survey on March 14, 2025 titled “New United Club at AUS” to capture HVAC, IT and program needs. The new club is unlikely to open before 2031 or 2032 but the interim expansion could be ready in 2027, preserving proximity to United’s current gate set near the center of the main concourse.

The current lounge is tiny. And even with relatively few flights, it’s full. It supports United’s operation and also Air Canada and Lufthansa.

Considering the small size, I am impressed that they offer the full lounge food complement that you’d find in most hubs. It’s not impressive compared to Delta (including Delta’s club in Austin), but more robust than what’s next door at American.

The lounge is ‘o.k.’ I’ve been inside when there was no seating at all. But on a Monday around noon it was fine for finding a seat, some power, and a snack. And of course it’s better to get help during irregular operations from lounge staff than at the gate.

For most purposes it’s just tough to fly United from Austin. They operate to Los Angeles, but so do four other airlines. They operate to Newark, but three other airlines fly to JFK. They fly to Chicago along with three other airlines. Only two other airlines fly to Denver and San Francisco (Southwest also flies to Oakland). The airline doesn’t offer a lot of unique value in the market, besides shuttling passengers to Houston for onward connections – and for flights to Washington Dulles (Southwest serves National once daily, and Allegiant serves Dulles twice a week).

The airline needs more than improved club facilities. They’re improving their product, especially with Starlink (boy wifi on their 737s is still quite bad). They need to improve their schedule, and for that they’ll need gates – but Delta is angling for the bulk of what comes online with the new concourse.

In the meantime, the thing I think I dislike most besides wifi is the boarding process. People line up in group 1 at least 10-20 minutes out. If you’re not a 1K or better it’s six to five and pick ’em whether you’ll get overhead bin space above your seat even as a first class passenger.